Dubai International Terminal 3
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Terminal 3 is an
airport terminal An airport terminal is a main building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft. The buildings that provide access t ...
at
Dubai International Airport Dubai International Airport () is the primary international airport serving Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic as of 2024. It is also the busiest airport in the Middle East as ...
, located in
Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
,
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
. When completed and opened on 14 October 2008, it was the largest building in the world by floor area and is currently the world's largest airport terminal, with over of space. The partly underground Terminal 3 was built at a cost of US$4.5 billion, exclusively for
Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...
and has an annual capacity of 43 million passengers. It was announced on 6 September 2012 that Terminal 3 would no longer be Emirates exclusive, as Emirates and
Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...
had set up an extensive
code sharing A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...
agreement. Qantas would be the second and only one of two airlines to fly in and out of Terminal 3. This deal also allowed Qantas to use the A380 Dedicated Concourse A. In 2018, Qantas discontinued flights to Dubai, as nonstop QF9/10 from
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
were launched and A380 services to London-Heathrow were re-routed via
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
instead. The terminal has 5
Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner, developed and produced by Airbus until 2021. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the pr ...
gates at Concourse B, and 18 at Concourse A. In December 2018,
flydubai Dubai Aviation Corporation (), doing business as flydubai (), is an Emirati government-owned airline based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The airline mainly operates out of Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport, though some flights fly out ...
commenced flights from Terminal 3 to selected destinations to facilitate transfers to/from Emirates. As of 6 March 2023, coinciding with the launch of inaugural non-stop services from Newark as well as a partnership with Emirates,
United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...
began operating out of Terminal 3, becoming the third carrier to do so. On July 26, 2023,
Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...
shifted their service from Toronto-Pearson over from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 as part of their extensive partnership with Emirates, becoming the fourth carrier to operate out of the terminal.


Design

Terminal 3 includes a multi level underground structure,
first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
and business class lounges, restaurants, 180 check-in counters and 2,600 car-parking spaces. The terminal offers more than double the previous retail area of concourse C, by adding about and Concourse B's of shopping facilities. When completed, Terminal 3 was the largest building in the world by floor space, with over of space, capable of handling 43 million passengers in a year. That record was overtaken by the
New Century Global Center New Century Global Center () is a multipurpose building complex in Tianfu New Area, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It is the world's third largest building in terms of floor area. It is served by Jincheng Plaza station of Line 1 of the Chengdu Metro ...
in 2013, but Terminal 3 remains to be the second-largest building in the world by floor space. A large part is located under the taxiway area and is directly connected to Concourse B: the departure and arrival halls in the new structure are beneath the airport's apron. It has been operational since 14 October 2008, and opened in four phases to avoid collapse of baggage handling and other IT systems.


Baggage handling system

The
baggage handling system A baggage handling system is a type of conveyor system installed in airports that transports checked luggage from ticket counters to areas where the bags can be loaded onto airplanes. A baggage handling system also transports checked baggage comi ...
is the largest system and also the deepest in the world; it has a capacity to handle 8,000 bags per hour. The system includes 21 screening injection points, 49 make-up carousels, of conveyor belts capable of handling 15,000 items per hour at a speed of , and 4,500 early baggage storage positions. The entire system is located beneath the taxiway area. High-speed conveyors transport the items of baggage in individual trays, which permits better control at high speeds and leads to quicker passenger check-in and 100 percent accurate baggage tracking.


Buildings

Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport comprises three concourses: Concourse A, Concourse B and Concourse C.


Concourse A

Concourse A was built at a cost of US$3.2 billion and was opened for operations on January 2, 2013. The total built-up area of Concourse A is . The concourse is long, wide and high in the centre from the apron level. It was fully operational within the first month of its inaugural, during which the facility handled 461,972 pieces of baggage carried on over 2,450 flights serving 589,234 passengers. Concourse A is the world's first A380 purpose built facility and also features the world's first multi-level boarding for first and business class passengers directly from the respective lounges. Concourse A is connected to the two major public levels of Terminal 3 via an automated people mover (APM) in addition to the vehicular and baggage handling system utility tunnels for further transfer. The building, which follows the characteristic shape of Concourse B, accommodates 20 air bridge gates, of which 18 are capable of handling the Airbus A380-800. The concourse has 11 floors, 14 cafés and restaurants, 50 airline counters, and 202 hotel rooms. There are also 6 remote lounges for passengers departing on flights parked at 13 remote stands. The gates in concourse A are labelled A1- A24. Concourse A has an annual capacity of 19 million passengers; it has increased the airport's total capacity from 60 million passengers to 75 million passengers per year. The facility was built as Emirates exclusive, however it also served Qantas from September 2012 to March 2018, following the Australian carrier's tie-up with Emirates. The concourse includes one 4 star hotel and one 5 star hotel,
first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
and business class lounges, and duty-free areas. The total built-up area is .


Concourse B

Concourse B is directly connected to Terminal 3, and is dedicated exclusively to Emirates. The total built up area of the concourse itself is . The concourse is long, wide (at midpoint) and high. The terminal has 10 floors (4 basement, ground floor, and 5 above-ground floors). The building currently includes a multi-level structure for departures and arrivals and includes 32 gates, labelled B1- B32. The concourse has 26 air bridge gates and 5 boarding lounges for 14 remote stands that are for the Airbus A340 and Boeing 777 aircraft only. For transit passengers the concourse has 3 transfer areas, and 62 transfer desks. The concourse also includes the Emirates
first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
and Business class lounges and the Marhaba lounge. The first class lounge has a capacity of 1800 passengers and a total area of . The Business class lounge has a capacity of 3000 passengers, and a total area of . The Marhaba lounge, the smallest lounge at the concourse has a capacity of 300 passengers at a time. The total retail area at the concourse is completely operated by Dubai Duty Free, and the food court includes 18 restaurants. There are also 3 hotels in the concourse; a 5 star hotel, and a 4 star hotel. There is a direct connection to Sheikh Rashid Terminal (Concourse C) located at the control tower structure through passenger walkways. There is also a 300-room hotel and health club, including both five and four-star rooms. Concourse B includes five aerobridges that are capable of handling the new Airbus A380. Emirates continues to maintain a presence in Concourse C, operating 12 gates at the concourse, as well as the Emirates First Class and Business Class Lounges.


Departures and arrivals

In departures, there are 126 check-in counters for economy class passengers, and 36 for
first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
and business class passengers. Also, there are 18 self-service kiosks, 3 lounges for
unaccompanied minor An unaccompanied minor (sometimes "unaccompanied child" or "separated child") is a child without the presence of a legal guardian. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child defines unaccompanied minors and unaccompanied children as those "who ...
s, 38 counters and 12 e-gates for Economy class passengers and 10 counters and 4 e-gates for First & Business class at immigration. In arrivals, the terminal contains 52 immigration counters, 14 baggage carousels, and 12 e-gates (Electronic Passport Control System) used at all entry point into the United Arab Emirates. There are also 6 baggage carousels for oversized luggage. The car park includes 1,870 car spaces, 163 car rental spaces, 44 Emirates bus spaces, a check-in hall for baggage with an area of , a mosque with an area and 18 check-in counters. The entire car park has a total area of . On 7 September 2010, Terminal 3 saw its 50 millionth passenger pass through the terminal. Since opening in October 2008, the terminal has handled more than 197,920 flight movements (departures and arrivals), 50 million passengers and some 70 million pieces of luggage. Currently, some 85,000 passengers pass through this terminal every day.


Passenger flights


Ground transportation


Rail

Terminal 3 is served by Dubai Metro, which operates two lines through or near the Terminal. The Red Line has a station at each of Terminal 3. Services run between 6 am and 11 pm every day except Friday, when they run between 1 pm and midnight. These timings differ during the Islamic holy month of
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
. The station is located in front of Terminal 3, and can be accessed directly from the arrivals areas.


See also

*
Dubai International Airport Dubai International Airport () is the primary international airport serving Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic as of 2024. It is also the busiest airport in the Middle East as ...
* Tourism in Dubai *
Emirates (airline) Emirates is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Etihad Airways). Based in Al Garhoud, Garhoud, Dubai, the airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is owned by the government of Dubai's Invest ...


References


External links


Official Site
{{authority control Airports in the United Arab Emirates Airport terminals